The St. Dom’s girls’ soccer team knew it would be hard-pressed to top what it achieved last year.

In their first year in the Mountain Valley Conference, the Saints won 12 games, took the top seed in Western C and won the MVC title.  After losing an abundance of talent, the Saints might have been satisfied to get close to such success this fall. Instead, St. Dom’s produced a better record, earned the No. 1 ranking again and could win a second straight MVC title this afternoon.

“I’m very pleased because we graduated nine players from last year, and in some very key positions on the field,” said St. Dom’s coach Kathy Little, whose club plays Georges Valley at Hosmer Field in Rumford at 4 p.m. for the MVC crown. “To finish better than last year and go in No. 1 again is an awesome feat. It’s a great tribute to how hard the team has worked this year.”

The Saints 10 players returning, but got a significant boost from new players, making St. Dom’s the team to beat again in Western C. Little credits players like Kayla McLellan, Emily Poulin, Courtney Costello, Kelley McLellan and freshman Marley Byrne for helping fill the void left by graduation.

“Our JV players that played just JV last year and played every minute of JV, we have three of them that have filled a starting role,” said Little. “A lot of key players from the JV are contributing this year.”

The Saints are now in the familiar position of playing Georges Valley again for the MVC title. St. Dom’s beat the Bucs in the conference game, but never got another crack at them in the tourney. The Saints were stunned in the quarterfinals by Sacopee Valley, while Georges Valley went on to win the state title.

“It was frustrating,” said Little. “Obviously, I wish congratulations to them for winning it all last year, but it was very frustrating to beat them in the MVC and they win states.”

With last year’s playoff disappointment fueling a little extra motivation, the Saints look forward to seeing the Bucs (12-1-1) today and then hosting either Madison or Monmouth in next week’s quarterfinal. The Saints have yet to lose to an MVC opponent in two seasons.

“It’s going to be a great matchup, and it’s going to be a true test and give us a sense of where we stand,” Little said of Georges Valley, which lost its only game to Lisbon on Tuesday. “They didn’t graduate too many. So it’s a rematch of last year.”

The Bucs were edged out as the No. 2 seed Sacopee Valley. Dirigo (10-3-1) took the fourth spot and will host Old Orchard (8-5-1) in a quarterfinal next week. Jay earned the seventh seed in its first year in Class C. The Tigers (6-6-2) were in Western B as a combined team with Livermore Falls last year.  The Tigers play at Sacopee next week.

After winning just one game last year, Monmouth went 7-5-2 and earned the ninth seed. The Mustangs will play a prelim at Madison (7-6-1) this weekend.

Another club hoping to go a little further this year is Leavit in Western B. The Hornets finished 11-2-1 and earned the third seed behind Yarmouth and York.  Leavitt won eight games last year, earning its  first non-open tourney playoff berth, but lost in the quarterfinals.

Leavitt won’t have any easy time of it this year, drawing Oak Hill (8-5-1) in the first round. The Raiders finished the season strong and tied Leavitt in their last regular-season meeting.

Lisbon also finished strong, taking the fifth seed with a 10-2-2 record. The Greyhounds ended the regular season with a win over Georges Valley and play at Falmouth in the quarterfinals.

Gray-New Gloucester held on to the No. 8 seed to earn its first tournament berth in seven years. The Patriots (5-7-2) face a difficult challenge against top-ranked yarmouth.

In Eastern A, Mt. Blue was the lone local squad to make the tourney. The Cougars (7-4-3) took the seventh seed and  travel to Bangor in the quarterfinals.  The Cougars tied the Rams 3-3 and lost 4-1. After winning just five games and missing the tourney, the Cougars have put themselves back in the playoff hunt and feel capable of competing with anybody.

“That’s really what John (Schoen) and I were hoping to build, that every time they play, they believe they can play with anybody,” said Mt. Blue co-coach Fred Conlogue. “It’s an attitude and work ethic that they have. It’s commitment from the girls that have gotten us to this point. They played a lot of ball this summer, and that’s really helped us.”

In Western D, Rangeley drew the third seed with an 8-4 record. The Lakers play at Greenville in the semifinals. The Lakers were swept by Greenville in the regular season.

kmills@sunjournal.com

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